


Tap Dancing in Space

by UnapologeticallyMeatwad



Category: Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Multi, Non-Sexual Intimacy, OT3, Tap Dancing, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25785298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnapologeticallyMeatwad/pseuds/UnapologeticallyMeatwad
Summary: While practicing his backflips, Cosmo jumps against a flat that is secretly concealing an interdimensional portal, and is thus ripped away from the studio and sent spiraling into space. It’s up to Don and Kathy to save him.
Relationships: Cosmo Brown/Don Lockwood/Kathy Selden
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17
Collections: Limited Theatrical Release 2020





	Tap Dancing in Space

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KannaOphelia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KannaOphelia/gifts).



> lol this is literally the first thing I thought of as an idea

“I can’t believe he did it,” Don Lockwood says to himself out loud as he surveys the damages. “I can’t believe that son of a gun actually did it.”

Kathy leans in, throwing one arm around each of Don’s shoulders. “Yeah,” she echoes.

“I can’t believe that Cosmo jumped so hard into that flat, that he launched himself through an interdimensional portal,” Don repeats to himself for the fifth time that day.

Sure enough, the flat Cosmo was practicing backflips against now has a gaping hole in its center, filled with a scary inky black that shimmers and hums. 

“We have to go after him,” Kathy says.

“Yeah,” Don shifts his jaw. “We’ve been through too much to go without Cosmo.”

Don gently slides Kathy’s hands off of him and leans back, knees bent up to his hips, arms straight ahead. He leaps and dives into the interdimensional portal — which feels like nothing. Colors shift and change to black, but that’s about it. He flies through and finds himself in a deep black void. Several yards ahead of him, Cosmo floats upside down.

“COSMO!” Don shouts with glee. This is far easier than he figured it’d be.

Cosmo looks up at him and waves, now sporting a long, scraggly beard. Eyes wide, he shouts, “NO! Don, don’t rush me, ya—”

Don rushes him and crashes into him, sending the two of them spinning slowly together. Don kisses Cosmo on the forehead for good measure.

“No, no, no!” Cosmo sputters, grabbing Don firmly by the cheeks. “There’s no way to build up momentum down here, shoot, we gotta tell Kathy to take it slow so we can build a human chain and — ”

Kathy crashes into the three of them, sending them slowly twirling, but not apart from each other at least.

“Damn,” Cosmo swears as they slow down. He shifts into some kind of breast stroke that at least helps him turn right side up, but he can’t seem to shift himself out of his little pocket in the void. Don tries flapping all four of his limbs wildly, and finds that this momentum thing seems to be true. 

Then Don looks up and so far above them is an interdimensional portal that appears to open back up to the film studio.

“What’s with the beard?” Kathy asks, running a hand through the scraggly mess. “Does time move differently down here?”

“Huh?” Cosmo blinks. “Oh, I don’t think so, I just — I put it in on for a bit.”

“ _Ha ha_ ,” Don drawls. “Good _bit_ , genius. Now how do we get outta here?”

“Why would I know that?” Cosmo shrugs. “I was just flipping off walls and crashed into this thing. When we get back, I wanna talk to our carpenter. That’s a sneaky little trick putting interdimensional portals into our flats.”

“I agree,” Don nods. “But you gotta stop breaking their flats during rehearsal.”

Cosmo’s cheeks light up. “Well — I — fine, okay. I’ll cool it.”

“Good,” Don folds his arms together. “Kathy, how are we getting out of here?”

Kathy flashes an annoyed glance at the boys. “I don’t know. Why would I know?”

“Dammit,” Don frowns. “What if we shout for help? I think that might attract some attention.”

Cosmo blinks. “You think I haven’t tried? Anyways, I think R.F. is the only one who can hear me. He poked in, shook his head when he saw me, and walked off.”

“Why would he...” Don raises an eyebrow. “Are you doing another bit, Cosmo?”

“I’d walk away too,” Kathy admits. 

“At least he had the courtesy not to throw the flat out,” Don says to himself. “Dammit.”

“Nah, no bit, he really did poke his head in,” Cosmo playfully slaps Don on the elbow. “You know what stinks the most about this?”

“What?” Don and Kathy say together.

“You can’t tap,” Cosmo explains and scrunches his arms around his waist. His feet move quickly, one tap in, one tap far out to the side. Alternating between left and right, he waggles for some time and does a little “Ta-da!” motion. But of course no tapping sounds come from his shoes. “I always figured dancing in a weightless space would be loads of fun, but it’s kinda dull.”

“Could you do that again?” Don says carefully.

Cosmo raises an eyebrow and without moving anything but his legs, does a quick jig. Don’s eyes widen. 

“What?” Cosmo asks. Clearly he doesn’t get it.

“You don’t see it?” Don grins, eyes lighting up. “Cosmo, do it again but look down!”

Cosmo frowns but chances it and this time he sees a golden light spark from his shoes, though they aren’t hitting anything. “What?”

“What if you tap against me, Cosmo?” Don asks. 

Cosmo waggles his eyebrows.

Don suddenly grabs Cosmo by the waist and sandwiches their bodies together. “Sorry,” Don grunts, his chest smooshing Cosmo’s nose in. Don lowers himself gently, as if he were climbing down a ladder. “Kathy, you take Cosmo from behind.”

“Right behind ya,” Kathy sighs, taking Cosmo by the shoulders and climbing down him as well.

“You know that’s repetitive,” Cosmo remarks.

“What?” Kathy groans.

“ _Take Cosmo from behind,_ which first off, time and place young Katherine, and _right behind ya,_ normally you avoid the word the last person said — ”

“Cosmo.”

“You’re climbing on me! It’s getting me fired up,” Cosmo looks down, and sees Don carefully slinging his tap shoes under Cosmo’s. His feet are a little bigger, but he is able to make it work. Don feels Cosmo’s heels press up against his; there’s a world where they could easily betray each other in a situation so delicate. But Don trusts Cosmo, he’s trusted him the whole time he’s known him. 

But something about pushing against his heels like this, they just feel so human.

Don reaches up and pulls Kathy down with him and gingerly, she places one of her tap shoes against Cosmo’s, gently pushing off Don’s shoe.

The moment Don’s shoe un-hitches from Cosmo’s, he moves quickly, latching his free foot against Kathy’s and quickly they spin out into an equilateral triangle where each point is one of the lovers.

They stare at each other. 

“Okay, now what?” Cosmo groans.

“Uh,” Don folds a finger against his mouth. “I’m working on it. We’re gonna lose our grip on each other if we start dancin’...”

“We’re more in-sync with that, I think,” Kathy says softly. “We used to do impromptu dances with each other all the time! And we weren’t even dating back then.”

“Too true,” Cosmo points out. “Remember that _Moses Supposes_ bit we did back in the day with that bookish guy?”

Don nods. He does remember. He’s just a little nervous. Something feels wrong about the three of them together, they’re perfectly synchronized and balanced. He’s not used to it, he’s used to scrambling to fix imbalances and problems, like Lena not knowing how to sing for _Singin’ in the Rain_. But maybe he should just trust them.

Impatient, Kathy claps both of her feet against Don and Cosmo’s. “And a five-six-seven-eight!” She does a little hop, and clicks her heels against theirs before she drifts away. She moves fast and intensely, using all of the best moves that Don taught her. 

The _tap!_ is so satisfying. Cosmo matches her, and so does Don. Their feet move in and out in a rush, they even do spins, and every now and then do kicks! Turn turn kick turn heel turn kick turn. And with each tap, the golden light from before gets brighter. It pools around their feet, forming a sphere in the center of the triangle that grows and grows with each subsequent _tap_!

“Hold!” Don shouts when the golden light eclipses the three of them, the light massive now, slowly turning like a globe. Don releases himself and falls — actually finds gravity and _falls_ — to the bottom of the globe. Kathy drops down besides him and without looking, they both reach out and catch Cosmo and gently slide him to his feet.

“It’s no good!” Kathy shouts, glancing upwards. Already the globe is retracting. 

“No, it isn’t!” Cosmo yells, going back into a tap again. He takes Kathy by the hands and swings her around. More golden sparks and the globe stabilizes. “Don! Take us home!”

Don grimaces and moves fast. He feels like a hamster, running on this thing. But he hits it hard and the globe rolls upwards, up to the interdimensional portal and —

— they pass through, the three of them tumbling on the floor laughing. 

Kathy laughs first, and then Cosmo joins in. Don just about cries and wraps both of his arms around them. He loves them so much…

“Hey!” Cosmo says sharply all of a sudden. He gets to his feet and points ahead. Kathy and Don rise besides him, holding his shoulders. 

And there stands a very sheepish R. F. Simpson.

“You abandoned me, ya jerk!” Cosmo shouts angrily. “You left them to rot in that interdimensional portal.”

R. F. Simpson bites his lip. “I… I should have said something, I left to, um…” He pulls out something from behind his back: a long, metal ladder, and he holds it high up.

Cosmo’s shoulders fall. “Oh, that makes sense.”


End file.
